Multiple driving pathways to enhance agricultural eco-efficiency through combinations of environmental regulations: a configurational analysis using dynamic QCA in China

Introduction Agricultural green and low-carbon development constitutes a crucial component of sustainable human development and has become a focal concern for governments, the public, and the academic community alike. Environmental regulation is widely recognized as an important instrument for advancing agricultural green development. However, research remains limited on how different combinations of environmental regulations jointly enhance agricultural ecological efficiency. Methods Based on a “government-market-public” analytical framework and using panel data from 31 provinces in China, this study employs a dynamic QCA approach to examine, from both spatial and temporal perspectives, the configurational effects through which combinations of government-based, market-based, and public-participation environmental regulations improve agricultural ecological efficiency, thereby identifying multiple pathways toward agricultural green development. Results The results show that: (1) no single type of environmental regulation constitutes a necessary condition for improving agricultural ecological efficiency; nevertheless, adequate government support plays a pivotal role. Achieving high agricultural ecological efficiency requires the joint participation and coordinated functioning of multiple environmental regulatory actors. (2) Four configurational pathways leading to high agricultural ecological efficiency are identified: the government-market-public synergistic promotion pattern, the government-led pattern, the government-market dual-driven pattern, and the government-public driven pattern. By contrast, the government-market-public deficiency-induced inhibition pattern constitutes the principal pathway leading to low agricultural ecological efficiency. (3) The consistency levels of all six configurations exhibited a declining trend in 2020, which may have been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and the broader economic environment; moreover, the coverage of these six configurations shows pronounced regional heterogeneity. (4) Under certain conditions, high market-based incentives and strong public participation can substitute for high-intensity government regulation. In addition, the scale of agricultural operations should be developed in a manner suited to local conditions and aligned with new-type urbanization and agricultural technological innovation. Conclusion These findings provide empirical evidence for identifying which combinations of environmental regulations can be adopted across different regions of China to improve agricultural ecological efficiency.